Unexpected love: Gray and Claire
by childs687
Summary: A blacksmith in training falls for a new girl who moves to Mineral town, will things work out for the two of them?
1. Chapter 1: The start

Note: this is the first fanfiction that I have written. Also wanted a little more dialogue between characters, so there's a lot in here, all of this might not be in the right format, but whatever. I wanted to write a fanfic about my two favorite characters in Harvest Moon, even though they are not relevant to 2016, I'm just getting around to writing one now. Hope you enjoy :)

 _Chapter 1_

"Gray, why is it that you never listen to anything that I tell you to?! I have told you a thousand times to be careful!" yelled Saibara angrily from behind the counter.

The only thing that Gray had done was drop a hot ore on the ground.

Saibara is a very old man, who is also Grays' grandfather. Gray is sometimes very surprised by how strong he is, considering he is around 75 years of age. The only thing that Gray doesn't like about his grandfather is that he has a very bad temper, which has rubbed off on him, because he also has a very bad temper.

"Can't you see that I'm trying to be careful! Not sure if you aware of it or not, but trying to be a blacksmith is not an easy job!" yelled the blonde hair, blue eyed boy.

"You still have much to learn, but you still need to be as careful as possible! If you really want to become a decent blacksmith, you need more practice before I can give you more tasks to do." said Saibara.

"I know that I have much to learn! But how am I supposed to be careful and try to do a good job, when you are constantly telling me all the things that I'm doing wrong!" Said Gray with more anger than his last response.

Like Gray had said before, his grandfather is always telling him every little thing that he did wrong. Even when he felt confident about his work that he had accomplished. So, he eventually didn't feel passionate about it anymore. After Gray had responded, he then heard the door to the blacksmith open. Gray didn't really care who arrived, so he just went back to his work.

"Hi there, I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new to Mineral Town?" said Saibara in a friendly voice.

"Yeah, I just moved here about a week ago. I'm just getting around to introducing myself to people here. My name is Claire by the way."

Gray heard an unfamiliar voice, but didn't care who it was. He was still mad at his grandfather, so he kept working.

"I'm Saibara, It's nice to meet you. Oh yeah, that's My Grandson over there." he said.

Gray turned around slowly because Saibara mentioned him, even though he didn't say his name.

"Hi, I'm Claire. It's nice to meet you." she responded with a smile.

"Uh..hi." said Gray with not much enthusiasm.

Gray really wasn't interested in talking to anyone that moment, he also never made eye contact with the girl. He was still in a bad mood.

"Well, I probably should be going. I'm not sure if any of you will ever need me, but if so, I live on the farm that is close to here. So..Bye!" said Claire as she left the blacksmiths.

Gray was sort of happy that the girl had left, now he could concentrate on his work. So that was exactly what he did.

"What was that all about?! said Saibara with anger.

"What! I just started working, and you're already criticizing my work?! said Gray with the same amount of anger.

"I am not talking about that, I'm talking about you being rude to someone that you just met! Saibara said.

"So? You know I don't really like talking to people in general, so why does it matter?" said Gray.

"Because she just moved here, why couldn't you just be friendly to one person? She probably hasn't made any friends yet, the least you could do is try to be friends with her. She seems nice, maybe you could learn from her." said Saibara.

"I don't know if I would want to be friends with her, I probably won't be seeing her that much anyway, so what's the point." Gray said.

"Even if you say you don't want to be friends with her, it might be good for you to hang out with someone who isn't a guy. You can be friends with a girl you know." Saibara said.

"Yeah I know that I can be friends with a girl, I just don't know if I would want to be friends with that one girl, its my decision if I want to or not." Gray said.

"Well of course it's your decision, I just recommend that you do. She really does seem nice." said Saibara.

"Whatever." Said Gray.

With that, the conversation about the new girl was over. By the time Gray finished what he was working on, he realized that he could go home since it was past 1. He then left the blacksmiths and started to make his way back to the inn, but before that, he noticed the path to the new girls' farm.

"That girls farm down there, what was her name..uh, was it Claire? Yeah I think that's it. Should I go apologize for earlier? I can't believe that I am actually considering this. I'm going to go down there, I also can't believe that I'm saying this out loud." said Gray with a confused look on his face.

As Gray headed towards her farm, he noticed that she wasn't there.

"Maybe I should knock on her door? Ugh this is just weird, I shouldn't be here. Screw it, I'll just knock, say that I'm sorry, then leave." said Gray in a soft voice.

*Knock, Knock.*

It takes about a minute for Claire to open the door.

"Oh, hi. You're from the blacksmith, right? Do you need something?" asked the girl.

"Um..yeah. I..am. I don't need anything, I uh just wanted to apologize.. for earlier this morning." said Gray with a shy voice.

What Gray didn't notice before about Claire was how she looked, he never glanced to look over at her when she greeted them. She is a very small girl, blonde hair, blue eyes. Just like Grays, she was also wearing blue overalls with a white button up shirt underneath.

"Apologize for what?" asked Claire.

"Um..I just feel that I wasn't being very nice when we met earlier. So, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was being very ignorant to someone that I just met, sometimes its hard for me to meet new people." Gray said with a sad look on his face.

"Oh, you don't have to be sorry. I know that it isn't easy to meet new people, trust me, I would know. I hope I didn't make you feel too awkward." said Claire.

"I mean, it was a little awkward, but I usually get myself into those kind of situations anyway." said Gray.

"Yeah, same here." she said.

"Well, I should probably get going. I'm sure that you have a lot here to do your farm. So maybe I will see you around." said Gray as he started to leave.

"Hey wait!" said Claire.

Gray paused.

"What is it?" asked Gray.

"I never got your name." she asked.

"It's Gray." he said.

"Okay Gray, see you around." said Claire.

"See you." Gray said with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2: Chats with Cliff

Chapter 2

As Gray left Claire's farm, he felt happy. For once, his grandfather was right, she was very nice. Maybe they could be friends? Since it was after 2 o'clock, Gray decided to check out the library to see if there were any new books available. No one was on the first floor of the library, but Gray found a book, and started reading. After that, he made his way towards the inn where he stays at. Gray then opened the door and attempted to make his way to his room, but was stopped by Ann first. Ann works at the inn, she is a shorter girl with red hair that is always in a braid.

"Hi, Gray!" said Ann in a cheery voice.

"Hi, Ann." said Gray in a less cheery voice than hers.

Gray had kind of a long day, so all he wanted to was go up to his room.

"Were you out doing something? You usually come to the inn around 2 o'clock, and right now it's past 3 o'clock." she said.

"Yeah, I was busy, but that doesn't matter. I came here a little late, it's no big deal." said Gray.

"I know it's not a big deal. I was just curious, you just seem a little happier today, that's all." said Ann with a small smile.

Gray and Ann have known each other for years. They are not that close, but they see each other everyday, so they have a decent friendship.

"How would you know if I'm happy or not? Everyone today is just getting up all in my business!" yelled Gray as he went up to his room.

"Hm..maybe he isn't happy after all." Ann said to herself with a shrug.

Gray made it upstairs to where his room is, he shares a room with a rather shy guy named Cliff. He looks kind of like Gray, except that Cliff has longer brown hair that is tucked back into a ponytail.

"Hey, Cliff. What are you doing?" asked Gray.

"Uh, nothing much. Just got back from church." said Cliff in a quiet voice.

"You're always over there, what do you even do?." asked Gray?

"I mostly just hang over there by myself, sometimes Carter talks to me. It just gives me something to do, I guess." Cliff said with a frown.

"Instead of going there all the time, you could go down and see if Ann needs any help.' said Gray.

"What? Uh..why would Ann want help from..me?" Cliff asked with a scared look on his face.

"I don't know Cliff, it was just a suggestion. Why are you all nervous?" asked Gray with a confused look on his face.

"I'm not nervous, not..at all." said Cliff as he looked at the floor.

"Cliff, everyone here knows that you like Ann. You make it obvious all the time. Like the way that you did just now, you're all red in the face." Gray said with a laugh.

"I..don't like Ann that way." said Cliff quietly.

"Yeah okay, keep telling yourself that." Gray said with another laugh.

"Can we just change the subject, please? Asked Cliff.

"I guess we could." said Gray.

"This was earlier, but..I heard you yelling downstairs. What was that for?" asked Cliff quietly.

"Ann asked me why I came here an hour later than I usually do, It just got on my nerves because it doesn't matter where I was." said Gray.

"Well..what were you doing?" asked Cliff with a curious look.

Gray got a little ticked off that Cliff asked what he was doing, he usually doesn't ask many questions. So he figured that he might as well tell him since he made Cliff nervous.

"Ugh, you too? I guess that I'll start from the beginning. My gramps was yelling at me when this girl came in to the blacksmith, I was rude to her. So, I went to her house and apologized for that. Then I went to the library for a bit, then I came here. Ann said I was happier for some reason, so..I got angry and yelled at her. Now here I am, telling you all that happened." said Gray

"What girl?" Cliff asked

Gray debating on telling him the name of the girl. He paused for a second, then told Cliff her name.

"Claire, she owns the farm." Gray said.

"Oh.. Ann mentioned her like 2 days ago, I haven't met her though." said Cliff.

"I just met her, so I don't know much about her." Gray said.

"Maybe you two will become friends?" said Cliff softly.

Claire randomly came across Grays mind in that moment, maybe Cliff was right. Would they even be good friends? Gray then responded to Cliff.

"Yeah, maybe." said Gray with a faint smile.


	3. Chapter 3: Searching for silver

_Chapter 3_

"Shit! I'm gonna be late for work!" Gray said as he looked at the clock.

Gray missed his alarm, he was supposed to get up at 6 a.m, but it was past 7. He starts work at 7:30. So he quickly got dressed and ran to work. He made it on time, and was "politely" greeted by his grandfather.

"Oh look at you, you were almost late!" yelled Saibara with a little anger.

"Well I'm not late, so why are you angry?! I really don't want to argue about this, so I'm just going to get working." said Gray.

"Fine." said Saibara.

Gray was kind of surprised that his grandpa didn't try to continue the argument. A couple hours went by since he first arrived to work. He heard the door open around 10 a.m.

"Hi, you're back. Can I help you?" said Saibara.

"Yeah, I'd like to upgrade one of my tools, if you could." said Claire.

Gray heard the familiar voice and turned around.

"Hi, Gray!" said Claire cheerfully.

"Hi, Claire." said Gray.

"So, which tool would you like upgraded?" asked Saibara.

"My hammer, please." Claire responded.

Gray just stood there and listened to the entire conversation.

"What ore would you like to use?" asked Saibara.

"Oh, I'll check my bag to see if I have some in there." said Claire

Claire swung her orange bag off of her shoulders and dug around to see if she had any ore in there.

"Shoot, I don't have any left over . I guess I shipped them all them all this morning. I can run to the mine real fast to get some." Claire said with a faint frown.

"Gray, why don't you go help her at the mine? I needed to go down there anyway to get some more copper." asked Saibara.

"Um..sure. I'll go." said Gray softly.

"Okay, let's go!" said Claire happily.

Gray grabbed his hammer, then they both headed to the mine. Claire said that you can get there faster if you cut through her farm. The mine is located on the lower left part of Mineral Town, right next to the Goddess Spring.

"I think this will be fun, I have never mined with someone else before!" Claire said with excitement.

"The only other person I have mined with is my grandpa, but I'd rather go by myself than with him." said Gray.

"Why is that?" asked Claire.

"My grandpa just isn't fun to be around." said Gray.

"I think he's nice." said Claire

"Well to everyone else he is, just not me. He yells at me for everything I do, even when I think I'm doing it right." said Gray.

"At least he is telling you the things that you are doing wrong, I know that I am doing things wrong, but no one tells me since I'm by myself." Claire said.

"I mean, a little criticism is okay. But when it is all the time, that's when it gets on my nerves." said Gray.

Claire paused before she responded.

"Maybe he does it out of love. Sounds like he wants you to succeed, so maybe that's why he is so hard on you." said Claire with a shy smile.

"Maybe you're right." Gray said as they both walked into the mine.

They mined for about an hour, only finding a couple pieces of silver and copper. Trying to find ores isn't easy. You are not always going to find them when you smash your hammer against the rock, it's a game of chance. After they collected their tools and ores, they made their way back.

"That was really fun!" said Claire.

"Yeah..it was. Mining is a great way to let out all of your frustrations, at least for me it is." said Gray.

"Guessing you come here a lot then." Claire said with a laugh.

"Only sometimes." Gray said with a chuckle.

"Should I come back to the blacksmiths with you? So I can get my hammer upgraded?" asked Claire.

"I can just take the hammer and your ore if you'd like?" asked Gray.

"Are you sure? That's real nice of you." said Claire.

"Yeah it's no problem, it just saves you a trip." said Gray.

"Well here you go." said Claire as she handed Gray her hammer and silver ore.

"Thanks, this should be ready in the next couple of days. I could drop it off then?" asked Gray.

"Sounds great! Thank you, Gray." she said with a smile.

"No problem." said Gray as he left Claire's farm.

Gray then made his way back to the blacksmiths with plenty of time to work on Claire's hammer. He was first greeted by his grandpa, Gray was surprised by the cheery tone in his voice.

"Have fun?" asked Saibara with a smile.

"Yeah..I really did." said Gray.


	4. Chapter 4: Small talk

_Chapter 4_

"Alright, I think this looks good." Gray said to himself as he finished Claire's hammer.

Gray had told Claire that he would drop the hammer off when it was done. He wondered when the right time would be to drop it off at her house.

"Is that girl coming in to pick up her hammer?" asked Saibara from the counter.

Gray paused for second before he responded.

"Um..I actually told her that I was going to drop it off at her house sometime soon." said Gray.

"Okay, just go drop it off when you leave." said Saibara.

"Fine." said Gray as he starting working on a different tool that was brought in.

Gray gets off at work around 1 p.m, but this day he didn't get off until after 2. The tool took longer than he expected it to. He put all of his things away and left for Claire's farm. Gray arrived to her farm and knocked on the door.

*Knock, Knock.*

There was no response.

"I'll just come back tomorrow." Gray said to as he went to the inn.

When Gray arrived at the inn, he noticed that there was a familiar blonde haired girl sitting at the counter, talking to Ann. She heard the door close and greeted him.

"Hi, Gray." said Claire.

"Hey, Claire. What are you doing here? I was looking for you actually." asked Gray.

"Ann and I are friends, so she invited me to come stop by. You were looking for me?" said Claire.

"Yeah I was, I stopped by your house to drop off your hammer. But you weren't there, so here you go." said Gray as he handed Claire her hammer.

"Sorry about that, but thank you so much for coming all this way." said Claire.

"It's no big deal, plus it's not that far considering that I live here." said Gray with a small laugh.

"Oh, that's cool. The inn here is very nice!" said Claire.

"Yeah it's decent here, the rent is cheap, so that's a plus." said Gray.

"Really Gray, only decent?" said Ann from the counter who was listening to their conversation.

"Sorry, I guess it's a little better than decent." said Gray.

"Well, do you want to join us. Talking with the both of us is probably better than going to your room." asked Claire.

"Yeah, sure." said Gray as he sat in a chair.

Gray, Claire, and Ann talked together for a couple hours. Mainly what they do for work. Ann works for the inn where she cleans and also cooks. Claire makes money from growing crops on her farm.

"Well, I probably should head home." said Claire as she got up.

Gray stumbled for a second but then asked her a question.

"Do you want me to uh..walk you home?" asked Gray nervously.

"Sure." Claire said with a small smile.

Gray was nervous when he asked Claire if he could walk her home. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to.

"Thank you for walking me back, you really didn't have to." said Claire.

"It's no problem." said Gray.

"I know this is random, but thank you for everything that you have done. You have been a great friend, haven't made very many since I've been here." Claire said with a small frown.

"I think you're great, anyone would be glad to be your friend." Gray said with a weak smile.

"Thank you, Gray. That means a lot, see you soon?" Claire said as she opened her door.

"Yeah, sure." Gray said with a smile.

Gray left Claire's farm feeling happy, he really thought that they would become great friends. They haven't known each other for that long, but there was an obvious friendship starting to happen, he has never had a friendship like this. Gray approached the inn and opened the door, but was greeted by Ann as soon as he walked in.

"Gray, can I ask you a..question?" asked Ann.

"Um..I guess?" asked Gray with a curious look on his face.

"Do you like Claire?" she asked.


	5. Chapter 5: Cookies

**Chapter 5**

" **Whaa?! What are you talking about?" said Gray with a surprised look.**

" **I was..just asking, I wanted to..ah see how you would handle it. It sure *pause* looks like you do." said Ann with a wink.**

 **What Gray had forgot during the conversation between the three of them, was that Ann was the only one who was drinking.**

" **Ann, are you drunk?" asked Gray.**

" **Phfft..no..I'm not drunk." said Ann.**

" **Yeah okay, I'm going up to my room. You be careful." said Gray as he made his way upstairs.**

 **As soon as Gray entered his room, he saw a very worried Cliff, sitting on the edge of his bed.**

" **Everything alright?" asked Gray.**

" **No..it's not." said Cliff quietly.**

" **Then what's wrong?" asked Gray.**

" **Tomorrow is Spring Thanksgiving, so..I thought that..um I would try to make cookies to give Ann. But I don't know how to bake." said Cliff with a frown.**

 **Thanksgiving is a tradition in Mineral town, during the spring boys give chocolates or cookies to girls that they like. The same thing goes for Winter Thanksgiving, girls give chocolates or cookies to boys that they like. This isn't a romantic festival, but it can be.**

" **Well, I could help if you want. I'm not the best at baking, but it shouldn't be that hard." said Gray.**

" **Thanks." Cliff said quietly.**

" **Just let me know when you need help, I don't work tomorrow for some reason. So, any time is good." said Gray.**

" **Okay." said Cliff.**

" **I'm going to bed, so goodnight." said Gray as he went to his bed.**

 **7:20 a.m. Saturday morning.**

" **Gray! Wake up!" yelled Cliff.**

" **Cliff? What the hell man, it's like 7 in the morning!" Gray said as he tried to go back to sleep.**

" **I know that it's early, but I need to start making those cookies now." said Cliff with a worried look.**

" **Why couldn't you wait a few more hours?" Gray asked.**

" **Because I wanted to make them before she wakes up, I don't want her to see what I'm doing..you know. Just want it to be a surprise." Cliff said with a small frown.**

" **Ugh, let's just get this baking over with." Gray said as he got out of his bed.**

 **They both went down to the kitchen to start making Cliffs cookies for Ann. If Cliff would have tried to make cookies by himself, he would have burned the inn down, that's how bad he is at any kind of cooking. Gray on the other hand, wasn't so bad a it, but he is no expert.**

" **Okay, I think we have everything for the recipe." said Gray.**

" **So we add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients? Why does that even matter?" asked Cliff.**

" **I don't know, that's just what the recipe says." said Gray.**

 **They finished putting all the ingredients together and baked the cookies in the oven. Surprisingly, they weren't burnt when took them out.**

" **I guess I didn't realize how many cookies this recipe makes. Do you want to take some?" asked Cliff.**

" **Sure, might as well take some since I helped make them." said Gray.**

" **Okay, here you go." Cliff said as he handed Gray a plate of cookies.**

" **Well, have fun cleaning up! And good luck with Ann." Gray said as he walked away with cookies in hand.**

" **What? Seriously Gray?" Cliff said as he rolled his eyes.**

 **Gray wasn't sure what he wanted to do with those cookies, he thought about leaving them on the counter to see if anyone would eat them. But It wasn't until he saw someone familiar, talking on the phone that was on the counter. He waited till the person was off the phone to greet them.**

" **Hi, Claire." said Gray**

 **Claire turned her head then responded.**

" **Morning, Gray." said Claire.**

" **What are you doing here this early?" asked Gray, with cookies still in hand.**

" **Well, I needed to order some cooking supplies through the shopping network on TV. But they only play the program on Saturdays, so I'm here now ordering them. Looks like you did some cooking this morning?" asked Claire as she looked at the plate of cookies.**

" **Cliff needed some help baking cookies for Ann, so I offered to help him make them. The recipe made a lot more than we expected, so he gave me some."**

" **That was nice of you, but why did you guys bake cookies this early? It's like 8 in the morning." Claire said with a laugh.**

" **Today is Spring Thanksgiving, so Cliff wanted to make them early before she woke up." said Gray.**

" **Spring Thanksgiving?" asked Claire.**

" **It's a tradition where guys give cookies to girls that they like, would you like some?" Gray said as he blushed.**

 **He didn't want Claire to get the wrong idea, most guys just give the cookies to friends that are girls. They are just friends after all.**

" **Yeah, sure. I love cookies." Claire said with a smile.**

" **Here you go, I hope you like them." said Gray as he handed her the plate that has a couple cookies on it.**

" **These are pretty good, thank you." Claire said as she ate another cookie.**

" **Thanks." said Gray.**

" **This is probably the earliest I've eaten cookies, like ever." Claire said as she laughed.**

" **Yeah, it is pretty early for them." said Gray.**

" **Well, I have to go. Lots of farm work to do this morning." said Claire as she started to leave.**

" **If you uh..ever need any help, just let me know." said Gray as he looked at the floor.**

" **Okay, thank you. See you later." Claire said as she left the inn.**

 **Friends give friends cookies, right?**


End file.
